The fossilization in second language acquisition and teaching strategy

Part 1. Introduction

The fossilization in interlanguage in second language acquisition （SLA） is a important part in social linguistic. By giving some literature review on interlanguage and fossilization as well as some certain researches， this paper is trying give some suggestions to English language teaching （ELT）.

Part 2. Interlanguage and Fertilization

The terminology ‘interlanguage have been used by different researchers with various alternative terms.It refer to a structured system in which the second language learner （SLL） made up at any stage of SLA.

Although the development of interlanguage is a continuum， researchers divided interlanguage into several stages. Just like Brown suggested， SLL will make mistake randomly in the first stage. After the period which the leaners make certain mistakes in a systematical way， the interlanguage development entered into stabilization. Even when the SLL ‘s interlanguage have developed into the stage of stabilization， it does not mean that the learner have already master the target language. On the contrary， there still exist a huge gap between the learners interlanguage and target language. Whats more， this gap will not move toward the target language any more， and this phenomena is called fossilization.

Many SLL can not master the target language. Thats because they do not reach the end of the interlanguage continuum. Fossilization can be regarded as errors or uncorre ere exist a optimum age for SLA which falls from 1-10 years old. During this period the brain retains plasticity， but with the onset of puberty this plasticity begins to disappear.

From the cognitive aspect， researches suggest that the ability of language comprehension is different between child and adolescent as well as adult. Older learners can learn about language by consciously study linguistic rules. They can also apply these rules when they use the language. In contrast， younger children are not so prone to respond to language as form. For them language is a tool for expressing.

There still exist a more convincing account of how factors are related to age difference. Neufeld distinguished ‘primary and ‘secondary levels of language study. Primary levels include a reasonably large functional vocabulary， and basic mastery of pronunciation and grammatical rules. Secondary levels include the ability to handle complex grammatical structures and different language styles. All learners according to Neufeld， have an innate ability to acquire primary levels. However children are more likely to achieve secondary levels than adults because they are strongly motivated by the need to be accepted by their peer groups.

Part 3. The improvement in English language teaching （ELT）

Just as we mentioned above， interlanguage is a systematic， permeable and dynamic language. That is means we can use these features to improve our language teaching.

Teaching strategy

The interlanguage is a system which have regular errors. So students mistakes need to be got more attention during the teaching. By the study of SLLs errors， teachers could point out the students interlanguage stage. Teaching strategy between children， teenager and adult need to be different.

A Younger Children For the younger children， which still in the critical period and easy to break the fossilization in the early stage， SLA is much more like the first language acquisition.Teachers should give less rules and more practice during teaching. Test-based teaching method which concern on the task are much more fit to them. By finishing the worksheet， study list， test-based teaching method concentrate on what language can be used rather than what language is， which meet the suggestion on cognitive study.

B teenagers For teenagers in the target language culture， who just pass the critical period， will have much higher motivation and self-discipline， and can grasp some rules and practice them. Grammar teaching can be much easy in this group of students， which most of them can master the ‘primary of the language. However， their interlanguage may fossilized for the communicative function， which just meet the needs to solve the peer stress. Teachers could add some cultural familiar text in teaching materials. Researches have showed that students who have been exposed to cultural related material will have a higher reading comprehension scores than those who just have some common texts which unfamiliar with culture.

C Adults The motivation on the study of second language for adults may be the highest compare with the upper groups. Studying， working， marrying， travel can be regarded as the basic motivation for adults second language study. For this group， the distinguish of the certain motivation may be the most important. Cause this motivation will effect the chosen of teaching material and the learners study strategy. The selection of teaching material should associate with the need of the learner. For example， testing paper is better for those who need to get certain certificate on language ability.

Fossilization may be the significant reason which break the adults motivation. However the interlanguage of adults is developed in a dynamic way. In order to protect adults motivation and break the fossilization， the input of the English teaching should be just one level above learners current ability.

As second language teachers， we should make full use of the positive language transfer. This will much more convenient for adults who have a good knowledge on their native language and good at using rules in language practice. On the other hand， the negative language transfer may be have a systematic feature. Giving deep analysis on this negative language transfer will help learners and teachers further study， especially for adult learners.

Study strategy

For the individual English learners， the study strategy will be different with culture. In general， most of the eastern culture English learners will choose to avoid and simplified the language structure. For instance， secondary school students in mainland China， will have a difficulty on attributive clause. So many of them will choose to avoid the expression by using two simple sentences. However， this is absolutely a negative study strategy， cause each language point needs several times practice. So individuals need to withdraw the using of the strategy of avoidance and simplification.

On the communication aspect， English language learners prefer to choose a familiar word or a grammar form instead of a new studied or a senior vocabulary or language style. This strategy makes communication much more fluent and effective. Whats more it satisfied the economical principle in daily communication. However， this strategy may lead to a earlier fossilization and limit the learners interlanguage move towards the target language. So as a successful English learner， the avoidance of replacement is meaningful.

Part 4 Conclusion

In the study of SLA， learners should have the confidence to break fossilization.Changing a study style， broaden the learning strategy， may have some effective practice meaning. Furthermore second language study as well as English acquisition are not only the study of a subject， but a tool to let us have an other way to look at the world. So it is better to study subject in English than study English as a subject.

References：

[1]Ellis.R.Understanding Second Language Acquisition[M].Oxford：Oxford University Press，1994.

[2]戴煒棟，蔡龍權.中介語的認知發生基礎[J].外語與外語教學， 2001（9）：1-5.

【作者簡介】馬骎骎，貴州財經大學商務學院。